WHAT DIFFERENTIATES PEDIATRIC ORTHOPEDICS FROM ADULT ORTHOPEDICS? By: Dr. Christopher Hydorn and Jennifer Cooper, PA-C, Moore Center for Orthopedics
Children are NOT simply little adults.
What separates pediatric orthopedics from adult orthopedics? Adults need hip replacements and children get fractures on the playground, right? Well, there is a little more to the difference between the two in the world of orthopedics. Even with the similar injuries adult and children’s bodies often have a different response. Pediatric orthopedic surgeons are specifically trained to evaluate and treat children.
Children’s Bone Anatomy
First of all, children’s bones are substantially different than adults. Infants start off with a skeleton made of cartilage that matures into calcified bone during the early years of development. In fact, during the first few weeks of life, ultrasounds are frequently used to examine children’s bones instead of x-rays. As children grow and develop, their bones have a softer structure than adults. The softer characteristic allows their bones to fracture or break in different ways than adult bones do. The biggest difference is the presence of growth plates in chi...
